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Mary F. Ehrlander with Hild M. Peters discuss the story of an Episcopal missionary couple who lived their entire married life, from 1910 to 1938, among the Gwich’in peoples of northern Alaska, devoting themselves to the peoples’ physical, social, and spiritual well-being.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 23, 2024

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This video video recounts the author's exploration of the lives and contributions of Hap and Clara Burke, Episcopal missionaries in Fort Yukon, Alaska. The author became acquainted with the Burkes during research for a biography on Walter Harper, the first person to summit Denali in 1913. As part of a master's project, the author aimed to provide a nuanced view of missionary history, often viewed negatively.

In 2017, the grandson of the Burkes reached out to faculty at the University of Alaska, interested in a comprehensive account of their story beyond Clara's memoir. The author took on this project, driven by inspiration and a desire to examine archival materials and contemporary writings. They sought to portray the Burkes as humanitarians rather than "white saviors," acknowledging the complexity of missionary impacts, both positive and negative, on Alaska Native peoples and their cultures.

Hap Burke followed his mentor, Archdeacon Hudson Stuck, to Alaska and dedicated his life to improving healthcare for Indigenous communities, leading medical practices in a region lacking hospitals. Clara cared for orphans and worked alongside Hap. The Burkes adapted their practices to be in line with the needs and languages of the Native peoples.

This video video highlights the Burkes’ deep commitment and the positive relationships forged within the community, emphasizing the partnership between the Burkes and local people in healthcare efforts. However, it acknowledges that their presence also had adverse effects, as the larger missionary narrative often dismissed Indigenous cultures and languages.

Overall, it presents a complex picture of missionary work in Alaska, noting the Burkes' dedication while recognizing the broader implications of their actions. The narrative encourages a deeper understanding of historical relationships and emphasizes the shared humanity that can exist across cultural divides.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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I became acquainted with Hap

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and Clara Burke when I was researching a biography

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that I wrote on an Alaska native man,

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the Athabascan Walter Harper, who was the first person

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to Summit Denali in 1913.

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And I became acquainted with Hap

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and Clara as part of my research for my master's degree.

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Uh, Mary was my major advisor for that project.

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And my degree centered on the history of a,

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a place in the middle of the state called Tanana,

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where there was a regional hospital.

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And so, hap

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and Clara's story was really, formative for

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a baseline for my research.

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And then the other part that we were really interested in is

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to complicate the narrative of the,

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of missionary history in Alaska, there's so many people who,

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who love to hate the missionaries.

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Um, but, but the truth is the missionary history

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is really complicated.

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And we wanted to explore that a little bit more

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Actually in 2017.

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Just as, my book Walter Harper,

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Alaska native son was coming out, Jeffrey Burke, a grandson

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of Happen Clara contacted faculty, at the University

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of Alaska and asked if there would be anybody

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who might be interested in taking their story on,

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in a much more comprehensive way

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than his grandmother had did, had done in the memoir

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that she had written on, on Dr.

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Hap as the book was called.

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And so I thought about it a while, and I, he

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and I chatted on a telephone

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and we, I decided to take it on.

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I became more and more inspired as I looked into it.

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So as we approached the work, we,

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we dug into all the archival materials

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that were available at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

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and at the archives of the Episcopal Church,

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of the USA in Austin.

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And we also looked at other contemporary publications

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such as those of the Arch Deacon Hudson stock and,

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and happen Claire themselves and others at the time.

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And then other contextual materials as well, such as

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the Alaska Governor's reports, annual governor's reports,

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anthropologists, reports, and so on.

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One of the other things that we were really concerned

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about is getting the tone right.

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We really didn't want this publication

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to be like a white savior book.

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And so we, we relied on lots of different cultural experts,

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wisdom keepers, even people in the medical field,

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who had understanding of what the tools

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and the practices might have been at that time.

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And through that couple things came out, we,

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we could really understand

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how truly remarkable hap was in his practice.

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'cause he often made his own tools and that sort of thing.

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And then in terms of the cultural piece, we,

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I'm fairly well connected in the native community.

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Uh, my husband was one of our advisors, Greta Bergman,

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who is the granddaughter of one of the figures in the book,

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was also a, a, a key, a key component to getting,

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the tone right and making sure,

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because there's, there's two sides of a coin here.

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Um, there's the wonderful good things,

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and then in the inadvertently there are some not

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so wonderful impacts.

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And we really wanted to consider all of those things.

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It happened. Clara Burke we're Episcopal missionaries,

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but foremost we see them as humanitarians.

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They dedicated their whole lives in Alaska to the health

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and wellbeing of Alaska native peoples.

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Um, hap followed his mentor

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and father figure, the Episcopal arch Deacon Hudson stuck up

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to Alaska, and he was then,

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located at Fort Yukon,

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which lies in very remote Alaska on the Arctic Circle.

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And, and then Clara had come a couple years

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before, well actually just one year before Hap and she,

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after they were married, then she joined Hap at Fort Yukon,

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and they spent the rest of their, the rest

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of their lives there until hap passed away.

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The other piece of the context is that by 1900 through,

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epidemics prior to 1900

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and, various resource failures,

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the Alaska native population had been severely impacted.

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Some, some scholars say even up to 60%

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of the population had already perished.

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And with that went wisdom keepers

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and, you know, family members and parents.

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And, and by the time Hap and Bishop Rowe and Archie

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and stuck, came on the scene, they,

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they were seeing the impact of, of,

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all these epidemics already.

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And they really felt, to do something about it.

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And so at that time, the gospel work,

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not only was there gospel work,

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but there was social justice work,

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and the decision was made to really dedicate their time

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in this way, of medicine

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because there wasn't a hospital

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for several hundred miles radius

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that would serve native people.

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So the Episcopal Church made a commitment

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to the native people of the, the interior

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to bring medical care and resources,

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because the government wasn't doing anything.

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The first hospitals here were,

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faith-based efforts.

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It's really complicated.

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That's the first way to approach missionary history,

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I think, and history in general.

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Historians like to complicate the narrative.

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And missionary, I mean, I think humans in general,

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like simple stories, they're easier to comprehend,

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to figure out who are the good

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guys and who are the bad guys.

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But in fact, missionary history is very complicated.

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And there were great variations in approaches

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to Alaska native peoples and their cultures

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and their life ways among the various denominations

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and among even individual missionaries.

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And so, we were, we were impressed

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with the approach in general

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that the Episcopal per church took,

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and in particular that arch deacon stuck.

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And, and his protege, Dr.

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Happy Burke and Clara as well took in appreciating

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and trying to protect Alaska native peoples, their cultures,

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their languages, and in advising them to, to kind

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of keep their distance from, from these new

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newfangled life ways and to maintain their traditional ways.

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The Episcopal church that operated in the Fort Yukon area

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where the Burkes lived

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and did their primary work was originally established

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by the Church of England.

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And then when the Church of Eng, when when the

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Canadian US border was settled, the Church

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of England was removed

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and the Episcopal Church of America took over.

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But the interesting thing is Bishop McDonald,

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who had been there for y years prior, was committed

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to the language of the, in the area

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and had started translating, parts of the Bible

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and prayers into the goin language.

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And when Arch Dekin stuck

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and the Burke settled there, they really, embraced that.

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Um, hap learned the language, services for,

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native people were conducted in the local language.

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And, and, and arch Dick

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and stuck was really committed to the lifeways

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of the native people.

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And in a way he was, had a prophetic word about the salmon.

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Right now we're in a situation

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where there are no salmon to fish.

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This is the fourth year, where there's no salmon.

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And already a hundred years ago,

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arch dekin stuck was fighting that battle on behalf

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of the native people in Alaska.

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And so this is

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where the Episcopal church had a very different philosophy,

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and even now, has a great, a good reputation

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among the people, and there's still services conducted.

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And they were the first people to translate the Guin,

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the English text to goin.

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And so I think this helped

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the Berks in their care of orphans.

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Clara took care of orphans

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and, Dr.

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Hap, of course in his medical practice, even now,

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I just got a report last week,

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and Mary is hearing this all the time.

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Uh, somebody in the village

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of Otai mentioned the book and Dr.

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Burke's name, and the response was just overwhelmingly

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positive of how, how much work they had done.

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So, so the impact, carries forward.

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I just heard from a woman a couple weeks ago whose father,

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grew up as well.

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He as a, as a young boy, he lived in Fort Yukon.

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He was non-native.

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And, but he grew up in a very

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abusive and neglectful home.

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And he had told his daughter, Dr. Hap saved my life.

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And he didn't mean through his medical practice, he meant

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through mentoring him and being a father figure to him.

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And he taught him how to use the ham radio.

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And later this man, bill Taylor, became a,

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an air air traffic controller.

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And so this had shaped that whole boy's life.

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And we know that there were so many children

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who were actually raised in,

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in the mission home whose lives were, whose lives were,

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you know, improved and,

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and who were given their chance as Hap used to say.

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At the same time, we recognized that there were,

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that there were, negative, impacts

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of the church's presence there

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and the Burkes presence there.

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Um, because in various explicit

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and implicit ways, their presence,

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sort of expressed the notion that for one thing

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we know better and that, our

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life ways are superior.

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And so, as much as, and especially

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because there was such a sort of a cacophony of,

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of, of just, noises and,

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and, denigrating, attitudes

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and, and ideas that were expressed at the time

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about Alaska native peoples

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and languages, that these, all of these voices

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and these messages sort

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of became mixed together in some ways.

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And so that,

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and so that there's no question that, despite

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the obvious positive impacts of missions presence

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and have happened, Clara's heart dedication, that there were

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long-term negative impacts on the people

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and their cultures and languages of missionary

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and other non-native presence in the region.

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As we've said before, the narrative is really complicated.

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And I think, it, it complicates it by showing,

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you know, the devotion that the Berks had that

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for living in one place for so many years.

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They spent their whole life there.

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They sacrificed their, their, I mean,

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hap could have had a career in New York

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and was offered different positions at various times,

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but the mission work in Fortu Con was so important to them

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that they really felt that that was their home

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and they really embraced the life ways.

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And, and,

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and the other part that is complicated is, you know,

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when the Mission House burned down,

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native people gave donations out of their own pockets

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to help rebuild.

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And, many people from all around came and cut wood

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or volunteered in the, in the hospital or helped hunt

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and do these different things

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or haul water that all of these tasks that needed to be done

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to keep the operation going.

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And so I don't think people realize how, how,

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much of a partner

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the community was in this effort.

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Yeah, and I would just add that it was, it was

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that partnership and that reciprocity

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that really made these community institutions

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that were deeply embraced by the people they,

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there there were many, native community members

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who were deeply engaged in the church and the hospital

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and the orphanage work.

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And so, it was, yeah, it was truly a,

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a community, a community effort.

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And they were community based institutions primarily.

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We hope that they take inspiration,

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and, a more complex understanding

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of missionary history in Alaska

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and missionary history in general.

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Um, I recently listened to a podcast

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by the, by the columnist David Brooks,

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and he talked about seeing people deeply

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and being deeply seen.

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And it occurred to me that that was it, that Hap

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and Clara Burke saw the people

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of the Fort Yukon region deeply.

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They understood them deeply and truly and loved them,

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and any kind of barriers, cultural

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or language wise just disappeared.

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And, and, and,

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and I think they saw one another as, as equal,

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you know, equally god's children

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as equal in humanity.

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And that allowed this wonderfully fruitful

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relationship that was so beneficial, to both sides

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because having Clara truly thrived in Fort Yukon,

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they made it their lives, their life's work was,

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was their work there in Fort Yukon.

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And so it's an uplifting, it's really, despite the tragedy

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of, of all the lives lost,

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and all the, the, the struggles

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that Alaska natives faced at the time, it's,

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it's an uplifting story

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because it demonstrates the capacity of human beings

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for, for humanity rather than inhumanity toward one another,

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which is so much what we're hearing in the news today.

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Maybe you'd like to add to that Hild.

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I just was just thinking while you were talking Mary, how,

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how, you know, it's a snippet of time where

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these relationships, in Alaska

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at that time were so important.

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I, my mother-in-Law is an Alaska native elder,

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and she's 94 years old,

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and she talks about the time in the fifties

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and the sixties, which is a little

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after the burkes of, of

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how special the relationships with people were.

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And it's really different than what we're experiencing now.

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And I think the Burkes had had experienced those same type

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of things where despite their different backgrounds,

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despite their different understandings,

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there was a deep love and respect for one another.

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And, and, and that's such a beautiful testimony

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because e everybody shared life together

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and they did it in a peaceful way.

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And I think that's a really important message for the time

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that we're in.

00:00 - I became acquainted with Hap and Clara Burke when I was researching a biography that I wrote on an Alaska native man, the Athabascan Walter Harper, who was the first person to Summit Denali in 1913. And I became acquainted with Hap

00:17 - and Clara as part of my research for my master's degree. Mary was my major advisor for that project. And my degree centered on the history of a, a place in the middle of the state called Tanana, where there was a regional hospital. And so, hap and Clara's story was really, formative for a baseline for my research. And then the other part that we were really interested in is to complicate the narrative of the,

00:48 - of missionary history in Alaska, there's so many people who, who love to hate the missionaries. but, but the truth is the missionary history is really complicated. And we wanted to explore that a little bit more Actually in 2017. Just as, my book Walter Harper, Alaska native son was coming out, Jeffrey Burke, a grandson of Happen Clara contacted faculty, at the University of Alaska and asked if there would be anybody

01:22 - who might be interested in taking their story on, in a much more comprehensive way than his grandmother had did, had done in the memoir that she had written on, on Dr. Hap as the book was called. And so I thought about it a while, and I, he and I chatted on a telephone and we, I decided to take it on. I became more and more inspired as I looked into it. So as we approached the work, we,

01:55 - we dug into all the archival materials that were available at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and at the archives of the Episcopal Church, of the USA in Austin. And we also looked at other contemporary publications such as those of the Arch Deacon Hudson stock and, and happen Claire themselves and others at the time. And then other contextual materials as well, such as the Alaska Governor's reports, annual governor's reports, anthropologists, reports, and so on.

02:34 - One of the other things that we were really concerned about is getting the tone right. We really didn't want this publication to be like a white savior book. And so we, we relied on lots of different cultural experts, wisdom keepers, even people in the medical field, who had understanding of what the tools and the practices might have been at that time. And through that couple things came out, we, we could really understand

03:04 - how truly remarkable hap was in his practice. 'cause he often made his own tools and that sort of thing. And then in terms of the cultural piece, we, I'm fairly well connected in the native community. my husband was one of our advisors, Greta Bergman, who is the granddaughter of one of the figures in the book, was also a, a, a key, a key component to getting, the tone right and making sure, because there's, there's two sides of a coin here. there's the wonderful good things,

03:42 - and then in the inadvertently there are some not so wonderful impacts. And we really wanted to consider all of those things. It happened. Clara Burke we're Episcopal missionaries, but foremost we see them as humanitarians. They dedicated their whole lives in Alaska to the health and wellbeing of Alaska native peoples. hap followed his mentor and father figure, the Episcopal arch Deacon Hudson stuck up to Alaska, and he was then,

04:17 - located at Fort Yukon, which lies in very remote Alaska on the Arctic Circle. And, and then Clara had come a couple years before, well actually just one year before Hap and she, after they were married, then she joined Hap at Fort Yukon, and they spent the rest of their, the rest of their lives there until hap passed away. The other piece of the context is that by 1900 through, epidemics prior to 1900 and, various resource failures,

04:54 - the Alaska native population had been severely impacted. Some, some scholars say even up to 60% of the population had already perished. And with that went wisdom keepers and, you know, family members and parents. And, and by the time Hap and Bishop Rowe and Archie and stuck, came on the scene, they, they were seeing the impact of, of, all these epidemics already. And they really felt, to do something about it.

05:30 - And so at that time, the gospel work, not only was there gospel work, but there was social justice work, and the decision was made to really dedicate their time in this way, of medicine because there wasn't a hospital for several hundred miles radius that would serve native people. So the Episcopal Church made a commitment to the native people of the, the interior

05:58 - to bring medical care and resources, because the government wasn't doing anything. The first hospitals here were, faith-based efforts. It's really complicated. That's the first way to approach missionary history, I think, and history in general. Historians like to complicate the narrative. And missionary, I mean, I think humans in general, like simple stories, they're easier to comprehend,

06:27 - to figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. But in fact, missionary history is very complicated. And there were great variations in approaches to Alaska native peoples and their cultures and their life ways among the various denominations and among even individual missionaries. And so, we were, we were impressed with the approach in general that the Episcopal per church took,

07:00 - and in particular that arch deacon stuck. And, and his protege, Dr. Happy Burke and Clara as well took in appreciating and trying to protect Alaska native peoples, their cultures, their languages, and in advising them to, to kind of keep their distance from, from these new newfangled life ways and to maintain their traditional ways. The Episcopal church that operated in the Fort Yukon area where the Burkes lived and did their primary work was originally established

07:39 - by the Church of England. And then when the Church of Eng, when when the Canadian US border was settled, the Church of England was removed and the Episcopal Church of America took over. But the interesting thing is Bishop McDonald, who had been there for y years prior, was committed to the language of the, in the area and had started translating, parts of the Bible and prayers into the goin language.

08:09 - And when Arch Dekin stuck and the Burke settled there, they really, embraced that. hap learned the language, services for, native people were conducted in the local language. And, and, and arch Dick and stuck was really committed to the lifeways of the native people. And in a way he was, had a prophetic word about the salmon. Right now we're in a situation where there are no salmon to fish.

08:39 - This is the fourth year, where there's no salmon. And already a hundred years ago, arch dekin stuck was fighting that battle on behalf of the native people in Alaska. And so this is where the Episcopal church had a very different philosophy, and even now, has a great, a good reputation among the people, and there's still services conducted. And they were the first people to translate the Guin, the English text to goin.

09:13 - And so I think this helped the Berks in their care of orphans. Clara took care of orphans and, Dr. Hap, of course in his medical practice, even now, I just got a report last week, and Mary is hearing this all the time. somebody in the village of Otai mentioned the book and Dr. Burke's name, and the response was just overwhelmingly

09:41 - positive of how, how much work they had done. So, so the impact, carries forward. I just heard from a woman a couple weeks ago whose father, grew up as well. He as a, as a young boy, he lived in Fort Yukon. He was non-native. And, but he grew up in a very abusive and neglectful home. And he had told his daughter, Dr. Hap saved my life. And he didn't mean through his medical practice, he meant

10:13 - through mentoring him and being a father figure to him. And he taught him how to use the ham radio. And later this man, bill Taylor, became a, an air air traffic controller. And so this had shaped that whole boy's life. And we know that there were so many children who were actually raised in, in the mission home whose lives were, whose lives were, you know, improved and, and who were given their chance as Hap used to say.

10:51 - At the same time, we recognized that there were, that there were, negative, impacts of the church's presence there and the Burkes presence there. because in various explicit and implicit ways, their presence, sort of expressed the notion that for one thing we know better and that, our life ways are superior. And so, as much as, and especially

11:29 - because there was such a sort of a cacophony of, of, of just, noises and, and, denigrating, attitudes and, and ideas that were expressed at the time about Alaska native peoples and languages, that these, all of these voices and these messages sort of became mixed together in some ways. And so that, and so that there's no question that, despite

12:06 - the obvious positive impacts of missions presence and have happened, Clara's heart dedication, that there were long-term negative impacts on the people and their cultures and languages of missionary and other non-native presence in the region. As we've said before, the narrative is really complicated. And I think, it, it complicates it by showing, you know, the devotion that the Berks had that for living in one place for so many years. They spent their whole life there.

12:45 - They sacrificed their, their, I mean, hap could have had a career in New York and was offered different positions at various times, but the mission work in Fortu Con was so important to them that they really felt that that was their home and they really embraced the life ways. And, and, and the other part that is complicated is, you know, when the Mission House burned down, native people gave donations out of their own pockets

13:19 - to help rebuild. And, many people from all around came and cut wood or volunteered in the, in the hospital or helped hunt and do these different things or haul water that all of these tasks that needed to be done to keep the operation going. And so I don't think people realize how, how, much of a partner the community was in this effort. Yeah, and I would just add that it was, it was

13:52 - that partnership and that reciprocity that really made these community institutions that were deeply embraced by the people they, there there were many, native community members who were deeply engaged in the church and the hospital and the orphanage work. And so, it was, yeah, it was truly a, a community, a community effort. And they were community based institutions primarily. We hope that they take inspiration,

14:27 - and, a more complex understanding of missionary history in Alaska and missionary history in general. I recently listened to a podcast by the, by the columnist David Brooks, and he talked about seeing people deeply and being deeply seen. And it occurred to me that that was it, that Hap and Clara Burke saw the people of the Fort Yukon region deeply.

15:02 - They understood them deeply and truly and loved them, and any kind of barriers, cultural or language wise just disappeared. And, and, and, and I think they saw one another as, as equal, you know, equally god's children as equal in humanity. And that allowed this wonderfully fruitful relationship that was so beneficial, to both sides because having Clara truly thrived in Fort Yukon,

15:41 - they made it their lives, their life's work was, was their work there in Fort Yukon. And so it's an uplifting, it's really, despite the tragedy of, of all the lives lost, and all the, the, the struggles that Alaska natives faced at the time, it's, it's an uplifting story because it demonstrates the capacity of human beings for, for humanity rather than inhumanity toward one another, which is so much what we're hearing in the news today.

16:21 - Maybe you'd like to add to that Hild. I just was just thinking while you were talking Mary, how, how, you know, it's a snippet of time where these relationships, in Alaska at that time were so important. I, my mother-in-Law is an Alaska native elder, and she's 94 years old, and she talks about the time in the fifties and the sixties, which is a little after the burkes of, of

16:52 - how special the relationships with people were. And it's really different than what we're experiencing now. And I think the Burkes had had experienced those same type of things where despite their different backgrounds, despite their different understandings, there was a deep love and respect for one another. And, and, and that's such a beautiful testimony because e everybody shared life together and they did it in a peaceful way. And I think that's a really important message for the time

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